Crochet corner

The op shop fairies were smiling on me today. Sitting , waiting patiently were two plump crocheted cushions.

Clean and well made and ready to join the rest of the hooky goodness in crochet corner.

In this corner only second hand and homemade goodies get to sit in the sunshine and glow and make me happy just to look at them.

I must take a picture of the little dolly rug I crocheted, it's all finished except I want to back it with some fabric just like the one my Grannie made for me. 

I'll take a photo of both of them when I remember.

Can you believe it's the first of May tomorrow!

Still Life with Duck

from the kitchen window

I went out to the kitchen after everyone had left for school and work to make myself a cup of coffee to drink in the sun on the window seat.


Out the kitchen window I saw the four black hens and Charlie the duck standing very tall  on the edge of the garden trying to soak up as much warmth from the sun as they possibly could.
They looked so funny, they made me laugh.


It's a bit chilly here this morning.
Perhaps I should have offered them a hot drink.

They have been having porridge for breakfast lately but I didn't give them any this morning , just lots of scraps.


Of course by the time I got my camera they had started looking for food again and 'the still life with duck' had been abandoned.
Nothing like chooks and ducks for a little free entertainment.

the front garden at sunset

fuschia

autumn leaves slowly turning

agapanthus seed head

half eaten toadstool - who or what eats them?

fallen over toadstool

white nerines near the birdbath

running and jumping and throwing.

 School athletics carnival today.

We were blessed with perfect weather after yesterday's wet winteriness.

Lots of kids spending a lot of time just walking around eating 

Lots of others trying very hard and testing themselves to be the best they can, fast or slow.

That's Kate below, in red. 

How long are those legs!

She didn't win but she didn't come last and she is finding out that she is stronger and tougher than she thought.

Andy did win the Long Jump. so good for him. 

He will compete in the interschool carnival in a few month's time.  

And me, I did some knitting and cheering and chatting and snacking and then Stephen turned up to give me a lift home. 

Perfect.

Channelling Helen, an update.

 Rainy, windy, a little cold

Perfect day to be inside and busy

Today, after having watched   some episodes of All Creatures Great and Small , little by little over the past few days and enjoyed the simplicity of it all once again , each episode  life driven rather than plot driven,  not to mention all the gorgeous hand knits and lovely prewar floral dresses and woollen skirts and soft blouses, a perfect accompaniment to my own knitting; today I feel like I am channelling Helen Herriot.

I have swept and washed the kitchen floor, made bread and a cake, lit the front fire and had numerous cups of tea.

I am keeping busy so I don't dwell on that feeling of unease that still sits in my mind. 

Dear Helen; so sensible, so much commonsense, so much humour and creativity, so matter of fact, so loyal, so helpful, so involved, so Helen. 

I remember reading a blog where the phrase 'What would Ma Ingalls do?' was used, to help the writer think how best to cope with a situation.

I think I prefer 'What would Helen Herriot do?' I love her unflappability and her sense of fun.

Is she a typical North of England woman do you think ?

Thanks to the lovely  Eli, I know that many of my father's ancestors, Booth and Higgins, most probably came from the North of England so I'm claiming a Yorkshire heritage

For today, I will channel Helen, keep busy and make the most of what life has to offer.

UPDATE

Just for fun at lunchtime I googled my grandfathers name and came up with a page that traced my family history back to 1859 when my ancestors left Huddersfield Yorkshire to travel over the seas to Ballarat to find their fortunes on the Goldfields. The family settled at Allendale, Victoria. 
So, there you go, learn something new everyday.

Comfort knitting

Indulging in some quiet lunchtime knitting and magazine reading after yesterday's drama.

Sitting in the sun knitting this.

I must admit I feel a little vulnerable and unsettled today.

The car was returned unharmed apart from a plastic protector strip that had been pulled off the door when they pushed the car out the driveway.

Our neighbour from two doors up had been alerted to something amiss yesterday morning  by his dogs madly barking and when he investigated saw our car being pushed out the drive and driven off. He chased them on foot and then ran back home to call the police.

What a guy! Go Robbie!

So yes, I have been a bit twitchy today and knitting is good for twitchiness don't you think?

It's a calming rhythm and the feel of soft wool is a nourishing, settling thing.

So glad we got the car back, really didn't want to have to find the money for another.

Stephen has been around talking to all the neighbours , letting them know what happened and to take care. It's been nice actually, we all know each other but people's lives get busy and a wave as cars pass is often the only communication for months.

So some good has come out of the bad.

image from epiclectic on Flickr

So, the day ends with a phone call from a local motel, just around the corner in fact.

The lady tells us that our car has been sitting in their car park all day.

She found our details from some papers in the glove box.

Amazing.

Perfect start to the new week:

Knock on the door at 5am, 

a policeman and woman...

Our car has been stolen...

from our driveway!!!!!!

Perfect start - I don't think so.

Random

1. Rozemarijn, 2. in the kitchen, 3. Untitled, 4. more happy..., 5. kids red vintage desk, 6. Untitled, 7. small office in a closet, 8. Gradient Dye on silk/wool set, 9. Vintage Atomic Pyrex Glass Juice Pitcher Carafe, 10. Hanging Garland, 11. thrift as cure for the common cold?, 12. Daisy Cottage, 13. I love red, light blue and pink together!, 14. Spring Bunnies/Baskets 2010, 15. waldorf gnomes, 16. bebe_3

Some of my Flickr favourites from the past week.

Click on the picture's title if you want to see the individual picture and perhaps more from the same  person.

I can't spend too much time on the computer as my hands and wrists quickly tell me to take a break.

I am listening to rain falling  and thinking that's not so good because today is Andy's first football game of the season.

The church up the road is having a giant garage sale ( car boot sale) today so if it's not raining too much I will go up there early to spot a bargain - maybe.

The rest of Australia is just starting a long weekend but in Tassie ANZAC Day is commemorated on 25th April and there is no extra holiday because the 25th is on a Sunday.

  I don't know why we are different.

I hope it doesn't rain for the Dawn service and ANZAC Day marches tomorrow.

It's a great day to remember the sacrifices of past and present  generations, I always find it a very emotional time watching the march and listening to the service at the Centotaph.

It's a good day to pray for peace and pray for people whose lives are still being affected by the horrors of war and to think about ways you can work against injustice and discrimination in your own home and community.

Lest We Forget

Lunch today was a bowl of left over, very garlicky, chicken soup.
We had the rest of the soup last night,
some of the meat went into todays school lunches
and there is plenty more left for something delicious.

Yum!

They're back

If you want to see my other toadstool pictures from past autumns you can go here

After the rain

Fantastic rain last night, heavy, drenching .

Thunder and lightening late in the evening and again in the early hours.

I wondered for a moment why Poppy, our old dog who died just before Christmas, hadn't come in to hide under the bed.

I truly believe she will always be here.

It was a great show in the early hours, right outside the bedroom window, I swear.

There won't be an update to the Etsy shop today.

I have been having wrist pain, both wrists since late last week so I have had to back off with hand crafts and computer.

Small bursts of activity, plenty of rests and plenty of variety of hand actions.

It seems to be settling, as long as I'm sensible.

Never had this problem before and I think it is more computer related than sewing /knitting related.

I did a monumental session last week trying to organise and file digital photos and pushed things a little too far I think.

I have had so much fun having a fully functioning kitchen once again.

All the extra little bits and pieces that had been lying around while Stephen fixed the kitchen bench ready for the cook top and of course the little gas ring I had been using have all been packed away now and the place feels its normal peaceful self.

Honestly I love my kitchen.

I know I have written about this somewhere before but I do love my kitchen.

As much as the food prepared there nourishes my family, working in there nourishes my soul.

I think it must always have been a happy kitchen, there are no bad vibes there at all.

The whole house has the same feeling really.

I am the third homemaker to make this kitchen my own, the first lived here from 1931 until about 1983 , the second , who ripped out the thirties kitchen that was here and replaced it with a cheap beige 1980s blandness, was here from 1983 until 1988 and then the third was me.

You know Stephen remodelled the kitchen all by himself, with very little know how but with a logical mind,  a perfectionist's spirit and  a willingness to give it a go.

He removed and reorganised the floor-to-ceiling cupboards that dominated the room, with very few tools he made myrtle bench tops, he ripped up the vile synthetic kitchen carpet and sanded and oiled the floor, he replaced the leaky sink with a second hand sink in great condition, found some good taps at the tip shop and put those in. 

Gosh he did it all. 

Replaced lights, partially replaced the ceiling, fixed all the cracks in the wall and repainted everything.  he replaced doors, built a bi-fold door for the pantry, built a pelmet for the window and installed the roman blind that I made.

He found our kitchen table at the tip shop, all buckled and warped and spent weeks, hosing it down and weighting it down to make it flat then sanded and finished it.

Our kitchen chairs were found in various places and all needed a few repairs before they could be used.He has replaced broken windows , fixed window sashes, sanded and painted and sanded and painted.

Heavens, reading that list I realise how lucky I am. 

 

Stephen has done so much work on this house, the garden , maintaining the car, well everything really.

What a guy!

( If you want to see more pictures of my kitchen , such as it is, you can go here

there are lots of pictures of food too so just hop over those)

Thanks to everyone who visited The red umbrella yesterday. 

Kate was so excited and even more excited when the lovely Rose became her first customer.

I will be putting some bits and pieces in the shop when and as I am able.

Didn't Kate do a great job on the banner?

the red umbrella, new blog shop.

Kate and I have opened a little shop, the red umbrella, to share all kinds of treasures with you:

Kate's hand made cards and needle felting,
my vintage finds and second hand books,
hand made goodies of all kinds
perhaps even a doll or two.

( all prices are in Australian dollars, Paypal will convert the amount to your currency)

We will be adding to the shop as we make and find more things to share.

If you have the time, take a look.

the red umbrella

Interesting

to watch

the faces

 of the electrician
 

 and his apprentices

 when they came to my house the other day

I tend to forget that it looks a little different to other people's homes.

( If you want to see more pictures of my kitchen, such as it is, you can go here .
There are lots of pictures of food too but you can just hop over those.)

Jackson Browne

Do you know how much I loved this song when I was 17.

They played it on the radio tonight while I was cooking tea and WHAM I was right back there.

I thought Jackson Browne was so lovely.
( he has a website , you can listen to some of his recent music)

Not sure how I found his music, probably through my brother who was always playing The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt and all those guys.

Can you imagine this lovely looking young man is now 61 

and this once lovely young 17 year old girl is almost 51.

I love that music can make me that person again, even if it's only for a few minutes.

Which singer was gorgeous to you when you were 17?

Exciting

How exciting is that!

The wonderful electrician has just been and wired in our "new" ( to us) cook top that we bought before Christmas.

So exciting, no more cooking on a single gas burner as I have been for the past , who knows how many months.

And I will finally get to use the fabulous vintage coffee pot I found at the op shop months ago.

Can you tell I am excited.!!!!

Vintage fabric

I have known this floral fabric my whole life.
I just love its soft colours, so pretty.

It features Australian flowers; red gum blossoms, flannel flower, tea tree, waratah .

On the other side is bottle brush, native heath, and a couple of other lily looking flowers that I would need my mum to identify for me.

This isn't really a cushion cover, it has my brother's name written inside it and an envelope- like flap held safe with a press stud. 

I think Mum may have made it as a book bag for my brother for school.

I can't really remember where in the house this fabric was, I associate it with my brother's room but I think it may have originally been used for curtains in the dining room.

My parents home was built mostly by them, with tradesmen doing what they couldn't do themselves.

It took them three years to build it and they moved in just before I was born in 1959.

I don't know if Mum was buying fabric and making soft furnishings as the house was being built or if she waited until they moved in.

In typical Mum fashion none of the seams on this little bag have been finished in any way, the most she ever did was bind the seams or pink the seam allowance but rarely.

Nothing ever unravelled.

Just think of the thousands and thousands of meters of thread that is used by overlocking machines these days mostly on clothes that are only worn for one or two seasons, perhaps not even handed down to younger siblings.

Crazy.

So now this little scrap of the 1950s is gracing my couch, whisking me back to my early childhood, even though I have washed and ironed it I can still smell my first home when I press it to my face.

Amazing.

If you want to see more beautiful Australian native flowers have a look here

There is a new little poppet doll going into the shop now.

This little one has found a home, thank you.

it takes courage to grow up and become who you really are

ee cummings

the cryptoquote from monday's paper

left on the kitchen table this morning after breakfast

stephen's favourite part of the paper

of course he should have written it in lower case

just love ee cummings

you can read all his poetry here

Little Meg finds a home.

The little doll, Meg went into the shop late this afternoon and sold immediately.

So sorry if you were hoping to buy her.

There will be a little 15cm (6") doll going in to the shop tomorrow, hopefully in the morning Australian time

I am wondering about the best way to sell the dolls so that everyone has a chance to get a doll.

Do I announce the sale time on the shop , say 1 hour before and then pop the doll/dolls into the shop at the set time?

Do I "raffle" the dolls off like Christina on Bamboletta, where the dolls are shown on the blog, a comment is left by those who want a particular doll and then a name drawn out of a hat to decide who gets to buy the doll?

Should I just put dolls in the shop once a month, say 6 dolls, and first in first served?

Should I change nothing?

 I would love to hear your suggestions....

Oh ,and there are two is one custom places available because of a cancellation, one for May and one for August if anyone is interested.

Just email me at littlejennywrendolls(@)live.com.au if you want to know more.

 Remember you can subscribe to the shop in google reader or bloglines and whatever other readers there are, that way you can see when the shop has been updated. Just keeping the shop page open won't necessarily show you when it has been updated unless you regularly refresh the page.

The dolls that should have gone into the shop today will be in the shop tomorrow.

Life got in the way.

Husband still home on holidays.

Perfect day to get all the washing done and dry.

You know the jig.

Is there a more sweet and heavenly  combination than soft aqua and a whisper of pink?

The cats and I did a little blog surfing this morning.

We found some lovely blogs that I want to share with you.

Block a Day

Busy Gnomes

Farmama

Folk City

Hugo and Elsa

Liivian Talossa

Enjoy.

picture from BloesemKids

Just found this most lovely little Dutch home. Go have a look.

picture from BloesemKids

Precious

This little one, Jilly, from early last year, is made from undyed and/or organically produced fibres and fabrics.

Her skin is an undyed, natural coloured organic cotton,

her skin is kind of the same colour as mine.

She is stuffed with the softest organically produced wool fleece.

I always stuff my dolls with wool and love working with its softness but I was amazed by the difference when I used this organic fleece. 

I think they come from the same kind of sheep, merino, just different treatment.

Her dress is  undyed organic baby alpaca, so soft it melts in your hands. 

I embroidered her eyes with the same yarn. 

The thread for her little mouth is DMC embroidery thread, the only dyed component.

Her hair is some locally produced and spun undyed mohair.

There is something about a tiny soft little thing like this that makes you want to protect it.

I think I will make one for myself as well as some to share, she is rather special.

I will be making some of these little dolls for the Niche Market coming up in three weeks time. 

For various reasons I didn't make it to Mathildas Market in Hobart a few weeks ago but I will definitely be at Niche which will be in a different venue, The Boathouse, just for this first 2010 market.